On the last night of 2020, President Trump announced an extension of the immigration-related ban issued during the New Coronavirus (CCP) outbreak, including a continued freeze on green cards issued overseas and a variety of work visas until March 31; on the other hand, the Trump administration’s requirement that new immigrants prove they have private health insurance was upheld by a federal appeals court.
In April 2020, Trump announced a temporary freeze on green card applications issued overseas, a measure that leaves family members of U.S. citizens overseas to bear the brunt of the freeze.
In addition, in June 2020, Trump signed a proclamation freezing H-1B work visas, which are heavily relied upon by U.S. high-tech companies and which benefit a large number of Indian technology professionals, on the grounds that non-citizens pose a risk to the U.S. job market in the wake of the outbreak.
The Trump administration has also frozen H-2B seasonal non-agricultural worker visas, L-1 professional manager visas and J-1 au pairs visas, all of which expire on Dec. 31.
Two people familiar with the matter said that the White House was deeply divided over whether the freeze should be extended before the Dec. 31 announcement expired, and that the U.S. business community has been fighting to loosen the six-month work visa freeze for the past several months, arguing that the measure hurts the U.S. economy.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers have both filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, saying that if the work visa freeze is not eased, it will impact a variety of industries.
Another faction advocates that the epidemic has caused a large number of U.S. workers to lose their jobs and that the visa freeze should be extended.
Trump’s rationale for freezing work visas is that non-citizens pose a risk to the U.S. job market after the outbreak; this announcement is actually an extension of Trump’s earlier “Buy American, Hire American” executive order.
Self-provided health insurance appeals court agrees
The Trump administration announced in October 2019 that foreign nationals applying for citizenship must prove that they can obtain their own health insurance within 30 days and that they can afford to pay for their medical expenses. The measure was blocked by a federal court judge almost as soon as it was introduced, but the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Deliberative Division voted 2-1 to uphold the Trump administration’s rule on 31 October.
Trump’s appointee to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Daniel P. Collins, wrote in his ruling that Trump had the authority to announce the rule, just as the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had the authority to issue a travel ban on Muslim countries.
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